PETA wants its own fleet of drones

If you thought you’d never see the words “drone” and “ethical” in the same place, then think again. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) say they want to acquire a drone to monitor unlawful hunters.

The animal-rights’ group announced on Monday that they’ve
reached out to Australia-based drone manufacturer Aerobot in hopes
of acquiring a CineStar Octocopter — an unmanned aerial vehicle
that can be affixed with a camera and used to snoop.

“Inspired by the increasing use of drones for nonmilitary
purposes, such as fighting wildfires and conducting
search-and-rescue missions, PETA is planning to acquire a drone of
its own to spy on hunters and catch them in the act as they
terrorize animals and break game laws,” says Alisa Mullins,
senior editor of PETA Foundation.

The idea, Mullins adds, could be “a drone program that even
Rand Paul might be able to get behind.”

PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk explains in a statement of her
own this week that the acquisition of a spy drone could actually be
used to help living creatures — not hinder them like the
missile-equipped UAVs used to target insurgents or the surveillance
drones expected to soon be rampant across America.

"The talk is usually about drones being used as killing
machines, but PETA drones will be used to save lives," Newkirk
says.

Currently in the US, hobbyists are allowed to operate drones
that hover close to the earth as long as they are not involved for
commercial means. If PETA is able to get their hands on one, they
say it will be used as more a news gathering tool used to track
down unlawful hunters that might be engaged in illegal activity in
heavily wooded areas where traditional surveillance is difficult to
conduct.

“Hunters maim and kill millions of animals every year,”
Mullins writes on the group’s website. “With more than five
times as many wildlife watchers as there are hunters in the US, we
hope to expose further why hunting is a sick and sickening
pursuit.”

Additionally, PETA says they’d be interested in sending
surveillance drones to go over factory farms to monitor operators
there as well as in “other areas that are hotbeds of
abuse.”

As RT reported earlier, journalism schools across the US are teaching
new students the ins and outs of drones in hopes of giving them a
tool to be used in investigative reporting.

"We have a class here of journalism students who are learning
to fly J-bots, for journalism robots, or drones," Bill Allen, a
science and journalism professor at the University of Missouri,
told ABC News. "So they learn to fly them, and also do what
reporters do: brainstorm ideas, go out and do reporting, do drone
based photography and video. We're trying to see if this is going
to be useful for journalism.”

At a congressional hearing last month, University of
Washington law professor Ryan Calo says it’s to be expected that
Americans doing legitimate investigative work would want to work
with the same types of aircraft capable of putting eyes in places
that are usually problematic.

"In 2015, when the FAA is set to begin to relax its
prohibition on use and integrate civilian use of drones, then I
would think the first folks in the door would be media because
there's such an obvious use," Calo said.

Kaitlynn Kelly, a representative for PETA, tells US News &
World Report that they have yet to get FAA approval but that they
"hope this won't be an issue." They intend on beginning
their drone flights this fall starting in the northeast United
States.